Good Wives

While I appreciate how old the book is, I found I just could not ignore the constant talk of what a woman "should" be and the looking down on Jo for not being "womanly enough". A lot of the comments made in the book were just...

"Women should learn to be agreeable, particularly poor ones, for they have no other way of repaying the kindness they receive." What kind of message is this?

Copying what I wrote into the Kindle review section last night when I finished:
Good Wives is a bit more aesoppy, as they are now adults (or near enough) and learning how to run their own households/find happiness. I also think it interesting that Jo is more of an author avatar here than ever, making money writing "sensation stories" only to stop when convinced they're vulgar, to not want to get married (until she does because it'd probably be scandalous for your ostensible lead to be a spinster). More time passes- we open with Meg and John's wedding (they waited until Meg turned 20, as is apparent from LMA checking in on each girl), and we end with Jo in her late 20s (she is 25 when Amy and Laurie return from Europe, thinking about how show more old she is, and the last chapter is a harvest at the school).

Still, despite the moralizing LW/GW can be funny and sweet, and all the characters have such distinct personalities that they feel lived in (though I still think Beth is the perfect baby angel whose only failing is her physical health.) I still chuckle a little bit about how Laurie is perceived as "dark" because he's half Italian, only for Hannah to be *right there* with a noticeable dialect and one of the boys in the last chapter described as "a quadroon" yikes.

I also think it's fun where this is one of the earlier examples of fans upset at the author for disrupting their preferred ship (Jo/Laurie are SO suited for one another, but maybe like Marmee suggested their temperaments are too similar). show less

A lovely book, written as the direct sequel to 'Little Women'. It begins three years later. Meg March embarks on married life, and her three younger sisters develop and mature in different ways. The novel is character-based, each chapter giving a vignette into everyday life for one or other of the girls. It is inevitably dated in some ways, as it's nearly 150 years old. But the girls' different personalities shine through, in surprisingly modern ways, as they mature and learn to deal with their faults and problems.

There are gentle, low-key love stories, some humour, and a very sad, though inevitable chapter towards the end. There's some moralising author intrusion, typical for the period, but even that is written a little show more tongue-in-cheek.

Highly recommended for anyone who has read 'Little Women'. I must have read this at least six or seven times since my teenage years, and discover something new each time. show less

Never read Little Women nor Little Men, and if I'd known that this was a "Little Women book," I probably wouldn't have read it either. I did like it, though, and the story of how each of the girls becomes a good woman. I especially liked chapter 11, about Jo's soul-searching about what she writes.
I liked these two phrases: "Talent isn't genius, and you can't make it so" and "he did nothing, but did it energetically."
I still don't want to read Little Women or any of the other books like that. Funny, eh?

Loved these books as a child, and I still enjoy Alcott's unique tone of didactic irony. Her portrayal of the March sisters fumbling their way through adulthood is sketched with a tender and perceptive sarcasm, and makes it fun to read despite the overt moralism.

Con nessun personaggio romanzesco ho avuto un tranfert così totale come con Jo; neanche con Jean Eyre. E come mi sono sdoppiata quel giorno sotto l'albero quando, sbigottita, ho sentito la mia voce dire a Laurie: "no".
La seconda me (o era Jo? o chi era?) alle spalle del ragazzotto gli gridava nell'orecchio "ma perché non prendi a schiaffi questa scema?, cioè io, cioè..": un momento di totale schizofrenia...

sì, è un commento un po' delirante, ma chi sa sa.

I think I have enjoyed rereading this book more than its predecessor, Little Women, as there is less moralising in it.
The story picks up with the four girls all young women and we witness as they choose their husbands, apart from one sister, who sadly dies. This book is especially poignant for me as it was a gift to my 10 year old self from my parents and duly inscribed.